The Walking Dead Previews Next Week’s Episode, the First of Rick Grimes’ Final Two Appearances

Showrunner Angela Kang also dishes on any future possibility for Andrew Lincoln to return.

AMC has released its official preview for next week’s episode of The Walking Dead, titled “The Obliged,” which will be the fourth of the show’s ninth season. This preview also reveals that this will be the second-to-last episode for Andrew Lincoln’s Rick Grimes with his exit approaching sooner rather than later. You can find the official description of the episode below.

Rick's vision of a civilized future is threatened by a sudden reckoning with past sins that remain unavenged and unforgiven.

So, with Lincoln leaving the series in just two episodes, is there any chance we will ever see him back? Showrunner Angela Kang broke down the situation, leaving the door slightly open with respect to “time jumps,” which could also mean flashbacks. You can read her comments below.

He is definitely out of the show this season. The intention is, this is his exit from the show, but who knows what time may bring. We always love our Andrew, so since we’ve got some time jumps you never know what might happen.”

Fellow cast members Khary Payton and Jeffrey Dean Morgan, who play King Ezekiel and Negan respectively, also chimed in with their own thoughts on Rick’s final episodes, calling his ending befitting and mentioning that it might not be set in stone. We’ll have to wait and see what the latter comment means but you can read them for yourself below.

When I look back and think about [Rick’s exit] I think it was an amazing event, and I just got this feeling that nothing’s set in stone, I’ll just leave it at that.

Look, it’s a hard deal, Rick leaving the world of The Walking Dead, so I think his exit... is an okay exit, all things considered. It’s befitting of Rick Grimes.”

This is all we know for now but The Walking Dead will continue Sunday nights on AMC as we rapidly head towards Rick Grimes’ final two episodes.

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Thanks to his friends and family, Chris grew up surrounded by plenty of horror movies and video games. From self-taught web design as a teenager to a formal education in computer science, he has always had a passion for web technologies and has channeled all of those interests into building this website platform. Chris opted to dive straight into horror with this project and is joined by some of those very same influential friends and family here on the staff. When not programming or gaming, you can find him heading to the midwest to cheer on his favorite football team, the Green Bay Packers. Go Pack Go!